‘Working for dole’ policy could do more harm than good

Simplistic ‘working for the
dole’ approaches are unlikely to have significant impact
and could cause damage, says Professor Max Abbott – Dean
of AUT’s Faculty of Health and Environmental
Sciences.

“It is good to see Government making
unemployment reduction a priority, however to be effective,
measures will need to be driven from the heart and informed
by reality. Stereotypes and prejudice don’t help –
people are unemployed for all sorts of reasons and these
differences need to be taken into account,” he
says.

Professor Abbott argues that most unemployed people
want to work, and the main reason they are unemployed is
because there are insufficient jobs to go around. In this
sense, he believes they are doing employed people a huge
favour – by not working, people who are out of work allow
others to have a job.

“Tragically, many unemployed
people suffer as a consequence. Research shows they are at
high risk for mental and physical health problems,” says
Abbott, Professor of Psychology & Public Health and past
president of the World Federation for Mental Health.

New
Zealand once had virtually no unemployment. So much so that
Professor Abbott notes a former Prime Minister once
allegedly responded, when asked how many people were
unemployed, “do you want me to name them?”

“There is
an old saying that being unemployed is the hardest job of
all. It is. Apart from wages, having a job provides many
other things that are usually taken for granted, like
structure in the waking day, social status, meaning,
companionship and connection to wider society,” he
says.

“When you have never had a job, or you lose one,
these things are not there. People are typically vulnerable
and face a huge challenge to find and build alternatives for
themselves. Often alternatives include providing unpaid work
caring for family and whanau, and contributing to the wider
community.”

He adds that most unemployed people want a
job and will take up successful employment when work is
available. Others, especially among the long-term
unemployed, have become demoralised and lost confidence.
“There are also people from backgrounds of
intergenerational unemployment who may lack the attitudes
and skills required for full-time employment,” says
Professor Abbott. “Many have mental health and drug
issues, while others have become involved in gangs and
criminal activities that partially substitute for not having
a job.”

Professor Abbott says that reducing unemployment
requires both the development of more jobs, and the
implementation of programmes that are tailored to the varied
situations and circumstances of individuals. “These need
to go hand in
hand.”

In response to the challenges facing Scoop and the media industry we’ve instituted an Ethical Paywall to keep the news freely available to the public.
People who use Scoop for work need to be licensed through a ScoopPro subscription under this model, they also get access to exclusive news tools.

The disproportionate attention paid by the film industry to a figure of minor historical significance once again confirms that any story involving sex, murder, and political intrigue will always trump historical accuracy at the box office. More>>

Besides being exact contemporaries who were born and died prematurely within a year of each other, Oscar Wilde and Vincent van Gogh shared the cautionary experience of being outcast and repudiated in their brief lifetimes. More>>

Auckland Pride Festival returns in 2019, celebrating the diversity of the rainbow experience in Tāmaki Makaurau and reconnecting with grassroots communities across the region, fromFebruary 1-17. More>>